The Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre at 50: Living and learning in the most beautiful place on earth

Arriving at Bamfield in 1988, Heather Alexander was struck by the stunning natural beauty of the location and the exhilaration of the experience – studying on the beach in torrential rain with a handful of classmates, instructors right on the beach working beside them.

For the then University of Victoria undergraduate, who attended the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre (BMSC) for a course on marine invertebrate zoology, it was a breathtaking introduction to academia.

Run through a unique partnership of five Western Canadian universities, including Simon Fraser University, the centre provides students and researchers access to a wide variety of coastal, marine and rainforest environments.

“The friends I made then are still friends now,” says Alexander, who has lived in Bamfield and worked at the BMSC for more than three decades, raising her twin boys in the small town on the west coast of Vancouver Island. “You form these long-standing bonds. The instructors are all very enthusiastic. I learned so much in those first six weeks, so much more than I would have learned in a lecture theatre.”

The Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, which opened in 1972 and is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year, is situated in Barkley Sound within the traditional territories of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations.

The centre provides year-round facilities and equipment including fresh and saltwater aquariums, divers and a fleet of vessels, allowing students and researchers safe, supported access to unique coastal, marine and rainforest environments.

Growing up in a military family, Alexander says she bounced around every two years, mostly in Canada (Halifax, Victoria, Chilliwack), but with a stint in Scotland. She was happy to land somewhere and stay put.

However, when her boys were teens, the family relocated so they could finish high school. Moving to Vancouver for a couple of years, Alexander began her PhD at SFU, studying evolutionary biology, under Felix Breden (now professor emeritus). She did most of her research at SFU, returning to Bamfield to write her thesis and resume working at the centre. Following the completion of her PhD, she spent 10 years working out of the BMSC as a research associate with Brad Anholt, UVIC, studying sex determination in tidepool copepods.

Now, in her current dual role, Alexander collaborates with the partner universities to co-ordinate courses and takes students on field trips. She also runs communications for the centre, managing the website and organizing content for the BMSC’s 50^th anniversary.

During her time in Bamfield, she has experienced changes at the centre and in the town itself, including a “devastating” population dip about two decades ago.

The town’s fortunes began to turn around, Alexander says, beginning with the signing of the Maa-nulth Final Agreement in 2011. The Huu-ay-aht First Nation is flourishing, she adds, there’s pride in the community, businesses are re-starting, and younger people are moving into town. As well, the 85-kilometre gravel logging road from Port Alberni is being upgraded.

Alexander says there have been many great moments over the years, but one golden memory sticks out, returning from the Broken Group Islands in a storm.

“We’d just been to the Great Tide Pool, and it was storming – crazy wind and sideways rain,” Alexander says. “Big waves were crashing over the bow, but we were all completely oblivious, sitting on the back of the boat singing the theme from Gilligan’s Island.

“It was just really such a joyful experience: There was so much energy from the ocean and being around wonderful colleagues and students and having just spent the most remarkable day in the most beautiful place on earth.”